Editorial: Did Gov. Chris Christie's vetoes signal distractions?

Gov. Chris Christie announces an after-school dinner program for six Camden City schools at the Thomas H. Dudley Family School in Camden, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2014. Also in attendance were Camden Mayor Dana Redd, School superintendent Paymon Rouhanifard and Dudley Family School Principal Joseph L. Ortiz. (Staff Photo by Lori M. Nichols/South Jersey Times)

Now that the dust has cleared, it’s apparent that Gov. Chris Christie let 44 bills languish on his desk without action at the close of the 2012-2013 legislative session.

It’s called a “pocket veto” when a governor allows a passed bill to expire at the end of a session.

Some governors use a pocket veto to avoid a divisive or potentially unpopular stand on a controversial issue. But the sheer volume and type of bills that Christie let die this past week suggest that something else is going on.

Last-minute legislation is too often bad legislation, and lawmakers pushed through a fair amount of that in the session’s waning days. A significant number of the measures the governor ignored, however, had bipartisan, even lopsided, support, and were available to his office in roughly their final form for months.

Some were classic no-brainers that should have been signed post haste — like S-2602, which would have repealed an outdated law allowing exemptions from permit requirements for excavation of dunes; or A-3691, which would have equipped schools with silent alarms connected directly to authorities; or A-1389, which sets forth a uniform structure for taxicab fares.

It’s difficult to imagine that the outspoken Christie would eschew the opportunity to sound off before signing a bill or slapping it with an outright veto that makes his reasons abundantly clear. It hasn’t been his style.

A spokesman for the governor said there was “inadequate time to properly vet” the legislation.

“Is he being distracted right now? Because, look — I said this all along — this stuff is distracting to start with, and my concern is right now we have to be able to stay on course and stay focused to get things done,” Sweeney said.

Sweeney’s remarks could be dismissed as a narrative carefully crafted by Democrats to make the Republican governor look bad. But, the business at hand was wrapping up the 215th Legislature. Christie, with all of those vetoes, gives the impression that he couldn’t find the time to weigh in on some good bills — which now will have to begin their legislative climb all over again.

What most people want from Christie right now is his full attention to his current job. That goes for lawmakers, too. Scandals will happen, investigations will ensue, but the people’s business must be done.